This week my mom and her friend came out from California to visit for a couple of days so, of course, we three played tourist for a bit. The only time I really get out to see the sites is when I have guests in town... otherwise it's just the daily grind and then home again. It's always fun to get out there and revisit the interesting stuff we have in DC. I mean, I see the Capitol Building every day on my way into work.... but it still never gets old. And the memorials are great - the Korean War Memorial is my favorite followed by the FDR Memorial.

Korean War Memorial

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a patriot or if it’s the newness of living in our nations capitol, but I never tire of seeing the monuments. It brings our country’s birth into perspective for me every time. Seeing that small seed of our independence planted by bold, intrepid, and strong willed people building a new life in a new place; watching the historical timeline to see it germinate; and follow our

FDR Memorial

founding fathers trial and error while they tend its frail leaves with their own brand of hard hewn and hard headed individuality until it grew into the strong and vigorous grove it is today. It's amazing to me every time to see how we got from there to here.

And the monuments always pull at the heartstrings. It’s important to remember that they aren’t dedicated to the celebration of war but as a remembrance to those who gave their lives so that we could remain free… or so that other nations could live free in a republic (for which it stands, one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all).

We saw all the monuments on the Mall but there wasn’t time to take them to Arlington – which isn’t something you breeze through. We visited a sampling of the 9 Smithsonian’s that DC has on offer, and had a wonderful dinner at the house with my closest friends. It was a lot of activity to pack into only 2 days but I had a great time.

Breadline at the FDR Memorial

Mom got to spend some time with the granddogs and Savannah Kitty who she hadn’t seen in a long time. And she was finally able to meet the chickens, ducks and geese and see my little operation. Buffy the Orphington had just hatched out her second brood of the season so I had 10 brand new little baby Silkies, Ameraucana’s, and Naked Neck Turkins to fascinate over.

The ducks were skittish because something scared them pretty good the first day she was here. I still don’t know for sure what’s terrorizing the birds but the ducks and geese stayed in their duckyard or very close to it for those few days.

Today I was out there catching up on chores all day and after I chased them out into the barnyard for exercise, sunshine and fresh pasture they decided that it was safe as long as I was out there walking around so there were a lot of happy little chortles as they found the tastier bugs. I reckon we’re back on track and I’m glad to see everyone acting like they should.

Pretty Girl mostly recovered

The Muscovy have spent the last 3 weeks in “sickbay” after a really horrible hawk attack in early August. All 5 were terribly maimed and I wasn’t sure 3 of them would even make it through the night. I did lose Freckles on the second day but everyone else miraculously pulled through and all their wounds have healed up so well!

When I found them after the attack, I got them all cleaned up and then I applied new dressing on their wounds twice a day and got them on vitamins and probiotics (Rooster Booster is awesome!). They all stayed in a little corner of the barn sleeping most of the time for the first few days. Then when they weren’t hanging out in the barn, they were confined to a relatively small yard covered with bird netting and salted with straw to keep them all clean. Pretty Girl took the longest to come out of the barn and to heal but her wounds were the worst, except for Freckles. Eventually, I gave them a pool to swim and get themselves cleaned-up in with a good dose of vinegar to keep the bacteria in check. I was really amazed at how quickly and thoroughly they recovered… you can hardley see any scaring, it's totally amazing.

Today I took down their portable fence and let them free into the barnyard… they were so happy to roam and hunt for bugs and I was happy to see them enjoying that again. I’ll miss Freckles though. She was so friendly and would come running up to me when I came out in the barnyard.

This week I’ll expand the primary duckyard, effectively tripling the space to about 250’ x 250’, then put a bird netting roof over the top of it. I’ll move the Muscovy into the regular duckbarn with the rest of the flock (since they’ve been sleeping in MY barn for the last 15 weeks) and everyone will stay in the duckyard when I’m not home and only come out to range on the rest of the property when I get home from work and on the weekend. I’ve lost 20 ducks in the last 15 weeks so it’s far too dangerous for them to be out from under cover when I’m not there.

This was a very stressful week here at Moose Manor. I had an awful predator problem and lost 7 ducks in 3 days! I figured that it was a bird of prey, likely a hawk, and though many of my sources said that the signs didn’t point to a raptor issue I pursued that line of prevention anyway. It got worse as time progressed and I lost 4 ducks in one day. I won’t go into great detail about the injuries but many of those sweet little birds were not killed by the predator, they were instead left terribly maimed and traumatized, still capable of walking but totally beyond medical attention. I did the right thing by all of them, which was incredibly emotionally taxing for me and I’m still sad. Especially since I lost both of my juvenile Khaki Campbell girls in one day – they were my little incubator babies and my favorites. Little Hardee Campbell and Messie Campbell are gone now and poor, sweet Hardee hung in there until I got home that evening. I cried and cried when I saw her but knew what I had to do. The KC drake, Splashie Campbell, just seemed so lost without the girls as he wandered back and forth in the enclosure with the Harlequin.

I couldn’t keep them all locked in their barns with 100 degree heat so I only gave them a relatively small outdoor area and, other than stretching bird netting over an acre of woods, I tried every trick and crazy suggestion in the book over the several days my ducks were being attacked - most of the “tried and true” methods were completely ineffective. The one thing that worked was creating a giant web of 20lb test fishing line about 7 feet above the ground over their enclosures and play areas. I wish I had found this solution the first day! The night after I put a section of web up I came home feeling very anxious… it worked!! Over the next few days I spent hours stringing webs of fishing line over the back acre of my property so the ducks could safely free-range. This has been tremendously effective.

On a happy note, over the last few days little Splash has found his place with the Harlequin. They’ve finally accepted him as one of their own and a few times this weekend I saw him “leading the pack” as they waddled across the barnyard, which made me smile for him. All the ducks are enjoying their freedom and with the high heat index I put out several small pools for them to splash in and they seem to be having a rompin’ good time.

The chickens, baby chicks, and baby ducks were unaffected by the hawk. Apparently, this raptor had her mind set on grown duck for dinner so – thankfully – I had no losses in that area. In fact, the baby ducks are growing by leaps and bounds! They’re mostly feathered out and the girls have found their quackers. No little budgie sounds from their play pen anymore…they’re a pretty noisy bunch these days – LOL!

They have 2 litter pan pools and a bigger 36-inch tub to splash around in. They just love the water so much I can’t imagine depriving them of a proper pond! There are two little Khaki Campbell ducklings in this bunch and they had me cracking up this weekend. I sit out there and have a beer with them most evenings after my chores are done and all 13 of them were trying to cram themselves into the 2 litter pans then they would all run over to the bigger tub and jump in there for a while, then back to the pans. They’re just making this huge mess, chasing each other back and forth, flapping their wings and quack-quack-quacking… basically having a ball. I noticed these baby Campbell’s just seemed so extra excited about their little game and one of the girls was dipping her head into the water, splashing it all over, then loudly stamping her feet in the puddle she was making. It was just so funny! She would make this excited little qUAck, then DipSplash, DribbleDribble, then do this little dance… SplatSpatSplat! Made me think of a kid in his little gumboots… too cute!

It was miserably hot this weekend and in the middle of the day the geese would hog up a whole litter pan just sitting in it to cool off. I was jealous that I didn’t have a tub of water to sit in myself! And up until this weekend the Harlequin only thought of me as the crazy lady who stuffed them into a big dog kennel and drove them across town in a hot car. When I was in their line of sight they boogied it on out of the area. But over the last few days we’ve become very good friends. They heard me filling one of the kiddie pools this weekend and ran right over to see what that wonderful noise was. They stood off at a “safe” distance panting in the heat and watching me fill the pool with cold water and while I chatted away they inched closer and closer. I turned the hose sprayer to mist and aimed it at them and they were just in heaven! They came right up to within about a foot of me and the boys aimed their big chests into the spray while the girls tried to catch the bigger drops with their beaks. Now any time I turn on the hose they run over and want to be showered! I guess I’m no longer the crazy lady because now they tend to congregate wherever I’m hanging out in the yard. They probably don't want to miss an opportunity to get a cool dousing!

This last is completely unrelated to ducks: if you enjoy reading about my farm please check out this gals blog. She and I have a lot in common and her posts usually make me laugh which was a much needed antidote for last week!

Today is Saturday, so this morning after I did my feeding and watering chores all around, I sat down at 7 or so with the Muscovy to drink my coffee and eat a snack when these very sedate ducks suddenly became very active. They were running from one end of their enclosure to the other like kids on a playground and playfully nudging each other with their beaks. Normally they just laze around the yard and preen or wash up in the water. This flurry of playful activity in such bucolic birds was pretty funny to watch.

They spent a lot of time around the pool all morning but didn't get in. Then I noticed that right around lunch time, when it was really hot, they were sort of taking turns submerging themselves and getting thoroughly soaked in the pool. It's big enough for a couple of them but they seem to prefer to bathe alone. I was glad to see them using the pool to cool off instead of just drink out of it. I also noticed that their feathers don't really seem waterproof like other ducks... they got really wet instead of beading up. Interesting.

The Campbell's almost never stop moving! During the hottest part of the day they did lay down in the tall grass though. But for the most part they're on the move constantly! They dabble in their bowl, run over to the corner of their enclosure to eat some bugs, run over to this corner to put their beaks in the mud, then play follow the leader around the perimeter to start all over again. All the while they're gossiping quietly to one another.

I did notice that the Muscovy seemed to be pairing off already. Some of the females have chosen a male to spend time with. The little gals nibble under the boys feathers and playfully nuzzle at their necks. The boys hardly seem to notice though (sound familiar? LOL!). But I see that the same girls are feeding next to and sleeping next to these males so I can only assume that they're sweethearts. The girls are also companionable with one another but do have their little hierarchy. They're very diplomatic about the whole thing but it's easy to see when they find it necessary to assert themselves.

I have one Muscovy male who's developed "angel wing" which doesn't cause him any discomfort but because it sticks out oddly some of the others pull at it until it starts to bleed. I don't think they're doing it to be disagreeable, they honestly don't seem to be able to help it. I've separated him during the day by putting him in with the run with the Campbells - he's not terribly pleased to be hanging out with those busy little birds but they don't bully him and vice versa so it's working out OK. When the Campbells rest they like to snuggle up with him in the grass but at night he refuses to sleep with them in their bed so I've decided to let him sleep with his pals rather than have him injure himself trying to escape. In the next couple of weeks he'll get all his flight feathers in and it won't be such an issue anymore.

About Farmrgirl

Small town Calif. farm-girl leaves the ranch behind for many years of adventure at sea, travels the world, then moves to Washington DC in 2007 where she finds the perfect homestead to settle down: acres of secluded Southern Maryland woods where she goes granola by raising her quality of life, Mastiffs, ducks, chickens, and tomatoes {& one Bengal kitty}... sustainably.